Have you ever wondered which parts of the world have the most advanced broadcast technology? To find out what people in different parts of the world think about this, I asked the following question as part of the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey (almost 5,000 people in 110 countries participated):

“Which territory is currently the technology leader, and which will be the leader in 3 years?”

North America

Europe

Asia-Pac

China

Middle East

Latin America

Africa

Not surprisingly, it turns out that opinions about this question differ widely based on the geographic location of the respondent. But for me, the results become more interesting when you look at how the respondents in each of the regions mentioned in the question view themselves in relation to the rest of the world.

The definition of “technology leadership” is fairly subjective, so when asking this question, I left the interpretation to each respondent. The broadcast technology landscape varies from region to region, and the deployment of new (advanced) technology is driven by a wide variety of factors. These could include governmental policy (e.g. analog switch-off), competition (from both broadcasters and vendors), new delivery platforms, new content monetization techniques, and of course a constant stream of new products and innovations.

Asking which region is the leader today is one thing, but asking broadcast industry insiders to predict which region will be the leader in three years is another matter, and the responses may surprise some people — indeed, respondents from virtually every region of the world expect their own leadership to decrease over the next three years from where it is today!

I found that North America is the geographical region which is considered by many to be the technology leader today. However, respondents from every region (including those in North America) expect this lead to decrease over the next three years.

Many respondents expect to see Asia, and China in particular, emerging as a strong challenger for technology leadership, with EMEA widely expected to lose ground. Interestingly, respondents in Asia-Pacific do not share this view to the same extent, believing the North America and EMEA will remain dominant in terms of technology leadership.

The following charts show how respondents from each region answered this question.

The view from Europe, Middle East and Africa

Respondents in EMEA believe that the current technology leaders (North America and Europe) will be challenged by China in the next three years. In particular, North America’s dominance of the industry is felt to be under threat.

The view from North America (USA and Canada)

North American see themselves as the current technology leaders, and expect this to continue unto the future, albeit by a decreasing percentage. Like other regions, North Americans see China as an emerging technology leader.

The view from Latin America

Latin American participants see North America as today’s technology leader, but expect it to be eclipsed by Asia over the next several years.

The view from Asia Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand)

Respondents from Asia see North America and Europe virtually swapping places in terms of technology leadership over the next several years. These respondents also expect China to increase in prominence, even as their own decreases.

The view from China

Chinese respondents see North America as today’s technology, and expect this to continue into the future. Unlike other regions, Chinese repsondents se their own prominence decreasing slightly over time.